Method of smelting iron ores.



UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS MITCHELL MGCLENAHAN, CF MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE.

METHOD OF SMELTING IRON ORES.

No Drawing.

and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Method of Smelting Tron Ores,

of which the following is a specification.

This inventlonlms reference to 1mprovements in the method of smelting lI'OIl ores,

and its object is to render commercially practicable the smelting of certain iron ores, particularly aluminiferous iron ores. In certain parts of the United States there are vast deposits of such aluminiferous iron ores, chief among which may be mentioned the fossiliferous porous red hematite known as the Clinton-Rockwood formation. Various expedients have been employed to render such ores economically available for the production of iron. Sometimes the ore is selffluxing, wherefore the problem of disposal of the non-ferrous components thereof is reduced to the minimum of difficulty provided the body of slag is not out of proportion to the body of the iron output. Where the ore is not self-firming it has been the custom to balance the silica with the proper amount of limestone or dolomite. and in order to reduce the slag burden of the furnace there is frequently added a suttieient amountof brown hematite. Many of the deposits of red hematite, however, are so situated that the brown hematite needed must be transported for a considerable distance and in some instances the readily available deposits of brown hematite have become exhausted.

hematite frequently renders its use prohibitive for furnace purposes. This together with the relatively high percentage of aluminiferous 'm'aterials in the red fossil ores has led to the considering of vast deposits of such red fossil ores as non-available for the economic production of iron.

Numerous analyses of the red fossil ores Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1913.

Application filed April 17, 1913. Serial No. 761,824.

under consideration have disclosed the fact that they contain a marked content of aluminum oxid. Such content being but weakly basic tovard sil' :a and weakly acidic toward basic iluxes,surh as lime and magncsimdoes not lend itself readily to the formation of a compound with either of these two classes of reagents. lVhen aluminum oxid unites chemically with calcium oxid, calcium aluminatc is formed. lVhen aluminum oxid unites chemically with silica, aluminum silicate is formed. Neither of thcsesubstances, however, is readily fusible to the liquid condition. It is apparent, therefore, that the presence of a marked amount of aluminum oxid is a disturbing factor in the prevailing custom of'balancing' silica against calcium oxid in the form of limestone, or calcium andnmgnesia oxids in the form of dolomite.

An addition of lime or magnesia to the charge of a blast furnace for the purpose of [taxing the silica, and thereby forming calcium or magnesia silicate, produces a vit- .rcous slag. However, if aluminum oxid is in the ore, either as free aluminum oxid or a combined aluminum silicate, the fusion point of the slag will be raised thereby. There is sometimes employed the expedient of increasing: the silica in the charge, which with the limestone also added, will increase the volume of the more fusible calcium sili cate, and thus aid in the elimination of the less fusible aluminum silicate. But this adds to the slag burden of the furnace and, therefore, to the fuel burden and when the percentage of the non-ferrous materials in the ore is already high, the slag burden becomes prohibitive, unless a high grade ore, such as brown hematite, is at hand to make the ratio of slag to iron output of the furnace more nearly conformable to good metallurgical practice.

By the present iIwent-ion certain red hematites may be smelted at a cost which renders many otherwise useless deposits highly valuable, since the invention permits a lowering, of the cost of production commensurate with the low cost at which red hematite may be obtained.

In accordance with the present invention chlorid of sodium is employed as the flux for the non-ferrous aluminiferous materials naturally occurring in "iron ores and may be used in the form of rock salt, which is obtainable at a low cost, and even though the cost of the chlorid of sodium. or salt should be considerably more than that ofthe same quantity oflimestone,'the quantity of saltbynweight'neoded isso much lessthan the .quantity of'limestone that there is a radical.

lowering of the fuel burden of, the furnace .in the melting zone. 'Howe'ver, it should be understood that the use of sodiumchlorid as a tiuxingagent for the smelting of the non.-

fer ou s aluminife'rous-materials-of iron ores does not mean that there may notarise'occa sion from time to, time which may require vthe use of; some basic flux such as limes-tone 'or dolomite or some acidic flux along with the sodium chlorid :to accomp'lishfa proper smelting of the ore. The. quantity of chlorid of sodium may-range from IabOUUODB-fifth 'oXid content of the oreto be smelted." These to about one-'seventh'of' the total faluminuin' proportions have been tried oncert-ain red hematites,'but the exact limits have not yet .bee'n'det'erm'ined. It appears, however, that 'tlielamountcf this flux required is buta small fraction of that 'necessarywhen linie is ei- 1ployed,if indeed lime ispracticable with the aluminiferous red cre'alone and" without the addition of brown ore to thecharge.

-' The so-called insolubles;in,certain classes of ores which aresmelt-able only'with diiti-- j'culty are found to be silicates, either neutralor basic, and, therefore, another flux. than those used. in the present day practice is w called for. I have discovered that sodium chlorid is a racticableflux for the basic. and neutral si ica'tes, which latter have heretofore prevented satisfactorysmelting of the redhemaiites in question. i

The mpre intimately two. chemicallyreacting substances are associated, the more readily is their interaction accomplished, other pl'iysical conditions being equal. accol int of the gaseous nature of' i'a wrous molecules they tend to penetrate solids thoroughly and their-intimacy 0f flSs0Cinti011 therewith has an extent that: s out of all proportion to any possible intimacy of assoeiatmn of two solids. Incase two solids react clier'riically the corrosionta-kes place only ati'lle' colliding surfaces. The interim-s of the two' sol ds, are unaffected until they in turn become surfaces. In a blast furnace in which limestone isused as a-flux, tliefsurthe deeper parts.

faces of" the particles of lime come into intimate contact with the surfaces of the lumps-of ore. The lime does; not penetrate the ore, biitatthe surfaces of the lumps of ore there is a reaction under the thermal conditions of the furnace and a fusible slag is produced at the surfacesbut not'within When this slag flows away there is a new surface exposed for further action of the lime and the corrosion is seen to progress inward toward the center of the lump or particle of ore. Only by at the heat-of the furnace. I izable flux such as sodium chlorid or thelike' ith'ere is'no po-re of the ore thatiis not sus-' ceptible' to penetration onthe part of the On I separates.

surface corrosionis the non-ferrous materialof the ore finally'brought to the fusible condition When the flux-is non-,vapor'izable \Nith a Vaporvapor andtherefore the intimate contact of the oreland theflux is rendered thereby most- -thoroughgoing and complete-and when the thermal conditions of the furnacearefavorabl'e the fiuxin'g of the descending body of non-ferrous material of the-soretakes'place throughout the .whole body of the lump or. particle 'ofjore coincident with the surface corrosion and not'at the surface only. -Thefluxi ng of the'lump of ore is more oft-he nature-of collapse than a surface corrosion, Inordina-ry practice a ton of ore requires .about afton-of limestone} or similar "basic fluxing agent to effect fusion of the nonferrous materials in the ore. By the process of the present invention the 'fiuxing agentneed not add more than-abont onertenth of i a ton tothe burden of the furnacefcir each ton of ore to be smelted. I have found that practically a much less proportion has given perfect satisfaction in the fluxin'g of the 'non-ferrous components of the ore. By the use of llmestone as a flux the furnace 1s re-' ores-thatafslag is obtained from -Which the reduced metallic iron easily and readily The use of'sodium chlo'rid as a flux'with t-he'fossilifero'us red iron ores ob viates the necessity. of employing brown ore with the red ore in the charges of the ;fur

elir'nin'at'edi v v 4 Vast-deposits ofred ores which have been heretofore practically worthless because ofthe-highcost of smelting are by th'evpresent mice and the cost of the brown ore is thereby 4 invention rendered available for. obtaining I,

iron. I

I Vihat is claimed is 1'. The method of fiuxing aluminiferous ores in the presence of sodium chlorid.

2. The method of fluxing aluminiferous iron ores which consists in smelting such ores in the presence of sodium chlorid as the fluxing agent. i

. The method of fluxin'g aluminiferous iron ores, which consists, in smelting such ores in the presenceiof a fluxing agent which is volatile at the heat of the furnace.

u p I a u iron ores, whichconsists 111 smelting such 4. The method of fiuxing aluminiferous as my own, I have hereto affixed my signa+ iron orels, which confsists1 in srilleltirag suih ture 1n the presence of two witnesses. ores in tie resence 0 so ium c lori in t e proportion hf about one-fifth to about one- FRANCIS MITCHELL MCCIENAHAN' 5 seventh of the aluminum oxid content of the Witnesses:

ore to be smelted. L. T. WALKER,

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing GRACE GonDARo.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O. 

